January 12, 2010

Happy New Year, Groupies!

Twelve days into the new year, Clerquette is finally getting around to one of her New Year's resolutions: more regular posts here at UTR.

As an initial matter, a few words about housekeeping, dear Groupies. Yes, dear Groupies: the annual bout of New Year's-induced ruminating brought this blogress to the unavoidable conclusion that an A3-shaped void had appeared in her daily life. And, yes: as we all know, 2009 was a very hard year for the legal profession. Thus, while we cannot promise you a break from unrelenting bad news about the economy, the threat of terrorism, or the inexplicable longevity of Jay Leno, we have decided to ring in 2010 with more news and gossip about the superstars of the federal judiciary (or "supastars," if you're not afraid of potentially stigmatizing 'dialect'). After all: receiving a giant bonus for standing by while your bank teeters on the verge of implosion may make some people feel better, but getting to know what's underneath the robe of your favorite Article III judge brightens everyone's day.

So, Groupies: what's new in the new year? Clerquette eagerly awaits your thoughts and insider gossip on law clerks, judges, and other luminaries of the federal bar. In the meantime, take a moment to welcome the New Year with Lauren Collins' profile of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in the January 11 issue of the New Yorker. (We know, we know: the magazine came out last week, and the diligent groupies among us have already read, annotated, and committed to memory the significant portions of the article. But this is New York, folks, where Clerquette has observed fellow subway-riders nosing through the annual Eustace Tilley issue -- a February tradition -- as they fan themselves in the August heat.)

But why wait? As you huddle against the cold, Collins' piece will provide you with a hearty portion of Wise Latina for the soul. In addition the pure joy of consuming S.Ct intel, the article reminds us of why Sonia from the Block is likely to remain in the headlines (despite recent lamentations about her erstwhile privacy). She is a study in contrasts; a Justice for the era of celebrity; the judicial equivalent of a mullet, to wit: business in the front, but with tasteful dose of "party" in the ol' appendix.

On the business front, colleagues and former clerks emphasize Sotomayor's workman-like approach: she reveres preparation, "believes in the perfectibility of systems," and views legal opinions "like instruction manuals -- everyone should be able to follow them." (Sorry, future clerks: leave your thesaurus at home, and save your SAT words, like "pellucid," for your emo blog!) According to Collins, her "mode of expression can be inelegant," and "[c]larity, not refinement, is her aim." But is her presence on the bench that has allowed us a glimpse of the multiple faces of Sonia -- at least some of which refuse to be hidden beneath the veil of stodgy precedent.

Sotomayor has established herself as an active -- and aggressive -- questioner. Collins, for example, describes one of her first oral arguments, in United States v. Stevens, as follows: "A blunt, glottal voice cut in," she writes. "By the end of the hour allotted to the case, Justice Sotomayor - wearing a snaky silver cuff bracelet with her fingernails painted sports-car red - had spoken five times." And, last month, Sotomayor received a minor bench-slapping, after peppering an attorney with questions before he could answer one already posed by Justice Ginsburg. (Ginsburg responded to Sotomayor's indecorous interruption with a demure, "I'd like him to answer the question that I asked him first." Sotomayor, it was reported, "looked chagrined.")

Of course, there may be some lingering resentment about Sotomayor's decision to ditch the "frilly jabot" that Ginsburg presented to her new g-friend to wear in her official portrait. In any event, the fact remains: in addition to being wise, J-So is just a little more caliente under her non-frilly collar than her distinguished -- if painfully staid -- colleagues. The record reflects, inter alia, that Sotomayor has been known to reward her hard-working clerks with cocktails and late-night Texas Hold 'em; that she "hooks up a mean churrasco with a tangy lemon marinade;" and, juiciest of all, that she has had the honor of being J-Lo's dinner guest.

So, while J-So insists that she is not out looking for love, and that she misses the anonymity of life on the [still sexy] Second Circuit, we are reasonably certain that the newest Justice will continue to generate buzz.

And let's not forget about the rest of the fabulous Article III body of luminaries! Stay tuned, Groupies, and send me your thoughts, tips, and gossip about the stars in the A3 galaxy.